A Year of Change

What a day. It was a long day, since we had little sleep, but one to be remembered forever. As a parent, you always want more for your kids than you had. We, (Tom, Robi and I) had a great childhood and all the opportunities one could ask for, including college, but frankly didn’t take full advantage, for various reasons, of getting a degree. And that’s ok, college isn’t for everyone, and many people do fine without it. It is special though to see your child put in the hard work and dedication and finish the job. We’re super happy and proud of Jagger, as everyone, including him, should be.

We left around 7:30 in the morning and decided to walk to Folsom Field which is where they play the football games. We made it there in 15 minutes or so, which is much faster than if we drove or even took an Uber. We ended up sitting pretty close, row 8, to where we thought the kids would be. They ended up a bit further up towards the stage, but we were on the right side and could see them. The ceremony lasted about 3 and a half hours, and the sun soon came out and we all ended up with a little color.

We all met up afterwards, Jag, Ava, her parents and grandparents, and brother, and walked over to her apartment for some snacks and drinks. Ava’s mom is super nice and so is her brother. Her stepdad, Andre, is too. The kids made a poster of all the people no longer with, so they too could be there and be remembered. The poster included Mom and Dad, Dixie and Don, Bob, Tommy’s wife Alison, and Ava’s grandparents. Not sure who the girl in the upper right corner is. You’ll see the poster below in picture number 3. They also had a little framed picture of Ava’s dad holding her. It was very thoughtful and a nice touch.

Jag, Lori and I headed out and went back to our hotel for a bit to change and then went to lunch. After lunch we headed to Target to buy a helium tank so Lori could blow up her balloons for the dinner later in the day. We rented out Pizza Albergo which is owned by my longtime friend who also owns Frasca, the Michelin Star restaurant that’s been in Boulder for 20 years now. I ordered up a bottle of Miani, a famous wine we used to import that they had to go next door to get from Frasca. Bobby, my friend and the owner, must have seem them getting it and came over to say hi. He walked in and said, “I heard someone over here was ordering Miani and I knew it had to be Doug”, ha. It was super nice of him to come over as next door at Frasca he was sold out at $50,000 a reservation for the night!

Dinner was great and we all had fun telling stories. We made it home around 10:30. I think the kids then went out for a bit. Tonight, Ty is joining us for an early dinner at 4 and then going to the Business School graduation at 7:30 with all of us. Afterwards Lori and I will head up the hill and Ty will stay with Ava and Jag and go out on the town.

The 5 Star resort we booked the kids in Bali, which is a Marriott, emailed me, and with our Platinum status, upgraded the kids to a suite on the lagoon! What fun for them. They both worked so hard and deserve the break.

Time to get moving. We’re working out in the hotel gym and then going for a walk. We’ll do something with Jagger today and then check out of the hotel around 2 to go to dinner and the next graduation. Have a great day, more to come as the kids enter the next chapter of their lives. God Bless.

Here’s some pics to enjoy. Robi asked what all the tassels mean and I asked Jag, and they’re all for different achievements in school. Too many to explain, ha. Overachiever!

It’s here, Graduation Day. 5:17 am now and it’ll be over at 10. We made it to Boulder around 5:30 or 6pm. Our hotel is fine, but the rooms are small and the beds are super hard and so are the pillows. We might need to go buy some pillows today, as neither of us slept well.

After the ceremony, we’re all going over to Ava’s apartment for a toast. Then Lori, Jag and I will go do something for the day and we’ll all meet up around 8 for dinner.

Bad loss by the Nuggets. We weren’t in it from the get-go. That’s ok, we won one and now are playing at home. Hope we show up for game 3.

Ty stayed home with Harley and works at 7. He’ll head down tomorrow. Weather looks fine for today, which is good news. That’s it for today, time to get moving. Congrats to Jagger and Ava, we love them both and are so proud of them. God Bless.

This afternoon we’re headed down to Boulder for a couple days for graduation and fun. The weather should clear up by then. We’re dry up here, but Denver and the front range had slushy snow and rain yesterday.

Last night, our neighbor, who is a top orthopedic surgeon and former employee of Lori’s practice, came over with his wife and offered Lori a job at about $50K more than she’s making now. This would mean she goes back to Steadman where she was before moving to VSO. She loves working for Dr. B and doesn’t want to abandon him, but if you count the increase in salary, the health care and benefits package, it would be more like a $75K raise. We’ll see, she needs to talk to Dr. B. She’d prefer to stay and just get the raise they promised her 5 years ago when she took the job.

I took Harley to the doggie daycare yesterday for a trial and that didn’t go well. She was shaking and freaking out and we left a few minutes after we arrived. Luckily, Ty is here tonight and tomorrow night and then we’ll make it home late Friday night, probably around midnight. He’ll stay down with Jagger Friday night and get to go to some graduation parties with him. With Harley, something has to give as we’re not letting any dog dictate our life. Lori called our vet for some new trainer recommendations.

6:20am now. Time to get moving. Jag is all done with college around 5 this afternoon. Hard to believe it’s finally here. Be well, stay safe and God Bless.

WOW! Nuggets were down by I think 17 points and won in the last 3 seconds. No one picked us. But I did! So did my teller at our bank who’s a big fan. We both had them winning when we talked about it yesterday morning. I just had a feeling Oklahoma would come out too confident as they did win 68 regular season games, swept their first series 4 games in a row, and had 8 days rest. Everything and everybody said we should or would lose, and we could have. But we didn’t give up and kept fighting and shocked OKC and the Basketball World. Fun time.

Yesterday I had a bunch of phone calls. I’m trying to keep the two people I spent all week figuring out how to let go. Our cash position changed a bit allowing us to do so. Lots going on. I was in Denver at the warehouse by 8:30 and at the bank a few minutes after 9 and on the way home by 9:10. I stopped at Marty’s as he wanted some wine for closing gifts that he gives to buyers after he sells them a house.

We’re taking Harley to the doggie day care at 11 this morning to see how she reacts. Ty is now staying here Wednesday and Thursday nights and coming down Friday. We’ll drive back late Friday night, so we have her covered. Ty will stay with Jagger and party Friday night.

Yesterday the Marriott called me and had a cancellation for Wednesday night, so we’re going down tomorrow afternoon. We’ll stay Wednesday and Thursday nights in Boulder meaning we don’t have to get up at 4 am Thursday morning, sweet. We still need to come up with a long-term solution for Harley for when we go out of town.

Lori is working in Edwards today and I’m headed to the gym. Two more days of finals for the kids. I think Jag is done around 5 tomorrow night. Been a long road for him. He deserves a lot of credit. Can’t wait to see what the next chapter of his life brings for him and Ava.

That’s it, have a great day, God Bless.

Yesterday Lori had a good birthday. We went to the gym and then had breakfast with Ty. At noon she left for her massage which was nice and then we were around the house the rest of the day. She’s in Glenwood getting her hair done at 8, and I’ll be in Denver going to the bank to deposit a bunch of money from 73 Metallica tickets. I hope to be back by noon at the latest.

Three days of school left for Jagger and Ava. Lori is taking Harley to the dog place here in Eagle to see how she’ll do. If she does ok, Harley will stay there for a couple nights. If not, not sure what we’ll do. We can’t have a dog run our life. Love our dog but that isn’t going to happen.

That’s it, Nuggets are on tonight. Have a great day and God Bless.

Whoo hoo! It’s Lori’s birthday! Today she’s having a massage at 1 and before that we’re having breakfast with Ty. We’ll go to the gym too, as that’s what she wants to do.

Big Nuggets win last night. Sadly the Av’s lost it in the third period. Looks like they had things in hand until then.

Yesterday we ran to Costco and did some stuff around the house. Thursday is graduation and it looks like rain in the morning which is of course when the ceremony is. We’re still working on what we’re doing with Harley.

That’s it, have a great day and May the 4th Be With You! God Bless.

Lots of sports today. The Nuggets and Av’s both play in game 7’s and the Kentucky Derby is on too. Then tomorrow is Lori’s birthday! Whoo hoo! I wish she’d get a massage or something as she doesn’t want anything, and we don’t have any plans.

Yesterday was not fun. I had to let one guy go and on Monday, another person. Jag has his first final today. Most students take around 12 credits, Jag took 21 last semester! Nice and warm up here.

Harley had her bordetella vaccine yesterday so she can hopefully go to Wanderlust to stay when we go to Jagger’s graduation. It’s a place where dogs aren’t in cages but sleep on couches and stuff. She is going over for a trial run tomorrow.

Davy and Abbey are in Denver as River has hockey so we’re watching Juno and Tux. Juno is their dog and Tux is the cat. We couldn’t get Tux in last night, but they said that’s normal. Hope the coyotes didn’t get her!

That’s it for today, time to get moving. Have a good day and God Bless.

Think we’re past the worst of winter. All we should get going forward is rain. Now watch it snow next week, ha.

Yesterday I had Jag’s windshield fixed and then by transferring his car back to our insurance policy and adding him as just a driver, we saved over $4000 a year! Cha ching! He’s studying away for finals next week, but I did have to merge him onto a call with me and the USAA agent to get that done.

I was too busy yesterday wrapping up April to have my calls to lay off a couple people. Think I mentioned I’m actually trying, for lack of a better explanation, immediately, trying to rehire one person. What I’m hoping to do is just change his job and pay him differently. Sad day, but it is necessary, and overdue.

Here’s something close to a miracle. Marty who has been a Type 1 diabetic for almost 10 years, has had zero insulin for 3 days now! This is unheard of as you get Type 1 when your pancreas fails. All we can figure is his new diet, protein, no sugar and few carbs, has somehow reset his blood sugar and maybe, just maybe, his pancreas somehow healed itself. Medically this just doesn’t happen. But the body is an amazing thing. I told him if he makes it through the weekend not needing insulin, he needs to go get a blood test Monday morning, even if he pays out of pocket, to verify what’s going on. He has a meter on a phone that shows the range his blood sugar needs to stay in, and he’s been there going on three days now. Must be the diet I gave him which is basically a lot of steak and eggs and good carbs like veggies. No bread, sugar, rice or any of that crap. Also, really nothing with a bar code. I should be a doctor, ha! Hope it continues for him, as it would be a miracle.

We’re headed to the gym. Av’s won and so did the Rockies. Nuggets lost by 6 but have another chance tomorrow to win the series. It’s also the Kentucky Derby tomorrow. There’s a horse named Sandman, after one of James’s songs, that’s favored. A friend of Davy’s owns a piece of the horse and James might fly up before the concert in Nashville tomorrow night, if he has time, to watch the race. As you can imagine, the owners want him to. He did go see the horse when they played in Toronto a week or so ago, as that’s where it lives.

That’s it, time to get moving. Lori made it home around 7 from Denver last night and I about a half hour before her from hanging with the guys. Have a great Friday and remember, it’s little Lori’s birthday Sunday! God Bless.

Today I’m getting Jag’s windshield replaced. Lori is headed to Denver to go to the dermatologist. We also have the cleaners coming who haven’t been here in about a month.

I’m in full blown cut expenses mode. After Jag’s car is fixed, I’m switching the insurance back to my policy to get a lower rate. Next up will be throwing, or giving away, the remaining antiques in storage to wipe out another $550 a month. That alone will save us over $1K a month. Then on June 1st, I’m planning on paying off Lori’s and Jag’s cars. That’s another $1630 a month. With a few other smaller things, I think I can cut over $3K a month in expenses. Then with no more tuition, I’ll be up about $6500 a month at a minimum. To pay that much, we’d need to make $10,000 as $3500 goes to taxes, so you can see how it all adds up.

Today some changes are happening at work. One person is going and another is hopefully, transitioning to a new position of commission where I essentially put him in business running his own company within our Company. Hope it goes well. Won’t be easy and is never fun letting anyone go.

A little cloudy outside and we had a little rain yesterday. The peaks have a dusting of snow on them, but that’ll be gone by the weekend when the warmer temps show up.

Big games tonight, basketball and hockey. Hope they both win but really hope the Nuggets win.

The Dems are at it again, passing a bill where parents can be criminally charged if they misgender their own child. This means if your kid decides, at any age, to say I’m a different gender than what I was when I was born, and mom or dad call them by their birth name, they can be arrested, or the kid can be taken away by Child Protective Services. What the hell is going on! On top of that, check out all the fees in Colorado, which are 100% illegal. This is just a small example of Dems skirting the law. Did you know you have to pay a fee to buy a bike?

Ridiculous, Dems will never stop this insanity. The only way to stop it is to vote them out. We don’t think we have the time for that, that’s why we’re looking at moving. I figured it out. We’re paying around $60-$70K in fees a year and for that, we can buy a $700k house in someplace like Montana and pay taxes and get our driver’s license there and break even. The 5K we’d pay for the house would be directly offset by the $5K we’d save in fees by being a resident of that State instead of Colorado. This is exactly why people are leaving. Example, we pay about $5K a year alone, just for license plates for our cars! Lots of States run by Republicans don’t have all the fees above. Some, like Montana, don’t have sales tax or license plate fees! Unbelievable.

Oh well, do your homework. The more I dig into shit, the more we find this crap and realize what a screwed-up State Colorado has become. That’s enough for today.

Take care, be well and God Bless.

April 30th, end of the month. Time never stops. Here’s one for you, in 120 days it’ll be September 1st! That should blow your mind. For now, time to focus on May and all that it brings.

Great game last night. Big Nuggets win. I’m working out at 7 and Ty works at 8. He golfed yesterday and then drove to Denver to go to the Rockies baseball game for a bit. We’re so bad this year that even he and his buddy left after a few innings. He was home by the start of the second half of the basketball game.

Lori works in Frisco today. it was cold yesterday for the end of April. Should be a nice weekend though, like in the 70’s. Marty, Mark, Clark and I got together for a cigar yesterday afternoon. Melanie is in Canada waiting for their oldest son and daughter in law to have their baby. She’s due on Lori’s birthday. Mel is staying up there for a month!

Time for coffee, have a great last day of the month, God Bless.